Thursday, August 25, 2011

Apologies for the delay in getting this new volume out. I have started writing a bit for Daily Grindhouse and that has taken priority. Great site btw, check it out. So I have fully switched over to just streaming from Netflix at this point. I may go back to discs as well. I wasn't enraged by the price hike, but honestly had been renting discs less and less so I decided to try streaming only for a bit. There's still plenty of good stuff there to be viewed, but it seems that the 1st of the month model is the primary influx of huge #s of catalog titles. That being said I was very pleased to see BLUE COLLAR show up. It's my favorite Paul Schrader film and one of my favorites of the 70s. Great performances by all leads, despite apparent on set tension. Also worth your time is the excellent Mazursky flick AN UNMARRIED WOMAN, featuring the late Jill Clayburgh in one of her finest roles. DAVID HOLZMAN'S DIARY is perhaps the first 'Mockumentary' and a film that has had a substantial influence on up to our current TV narratives. Speaking of influence, Jack Cardiff is one hell of a Cinematographer and his career is well worth exploring in the doc CAMERAMAN: THE LIFE AND WORK OF JACK CARDIFF. On the quirky side, FIVE CORNERS is a neat little film from the writer of JOE VS. THE VOLCANO (and the director of MY BODYGUARD). TREMORS 2 is actually a pretty fun sequel in my opinion if you're into those films(I even like 3 and 4). And VIDEODROME is of course Cronenberg at the height of his powers. Watch it. Same goes for a great doc from 2008 called FUEL.

12 comments:

Will BLUE COLLAR contain the original theatrical soundtrack or the altered-for-home video track? Will need to check this out this evening. The Anchor Bay DVD has the "rescored for home video" soundtrack that also appeared on earlier MCA / Universal home video editions. It is possible that the earliest home video incarnations of BLUE COLLAR featured the original soundtrack, as was the case with other Universal titles of the era that were later rescored, i.e. THE THING, NIGHTHAWKS, CHEECH & CHONG'S NEXT MOVIE.

There may be some other music changes, but I can tell you that Howlin' Wolf's "Wang Dang Doodle," missing from certain home video versions of the film such as the Anchor Bay DVD, is in the print showing on Netflix Instant now. This song appears on the soundtrack as Harvey Keitel and Richard Pryor enter the late night party at Yaphet Kotto's. The Anchor Bay DVD and previous Universal home video versions, replace the Howlin' Wolf tune with a generic instrumental track.

So glad BLUE COLLAR is back - it was on Instant last year (I actually watched it work) and then disappeared. Beats watching my old VHS dub! And AN UNMARRIED WOMAN is truly wonderful; ironically, the night I watched it was the night Clayburgh's death was announced. Weird. Both films are must-sees for fans of '70s cinema.

I'll add myself to the chorus welcoming the addition of BLUE COLLAR. It only looks better as the years go by. Schrader never matched this; matter of fact, I think it contains career best performances from both Pryor and Kotto as well. As always, thanks for alerting the rest of us to the new stuff we might have missed!

Hal-I'm with you. Some of the best work by all parties involved! So glad it's there again for folks to see!

BTVC-Yeah I am glad the put VIDEODROME up there. truly one of Cronenberg's best.

Ty-yeah I don't think I'd seen that poster either. Part of what's fun about these lists is finding pics of poster like that that I am unfamiliar with!

Steve-cool list as always sir! Your mention of Hieronymous Merkin and Anthony Newley reminded me of a conversation I just had about the GARBAGE PAIL KIDS MOVIE which I had forgotten Anthony Newley was in.

WAC Instant

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